Dragonflies Have a Unique Hunting Strategy, New Study Shows

December 11, 2014 10:08 AM

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A research team from Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Virginia, had the curiosity of learning more about dragonflies’ hunting methods. By using ultra-high-speed cameras and an artificial fruit fly to lure the dragonfly into hunting it, researchers learned that dragonflies use a predictive way of hunting not a reactive one. This means that they have their own strategies when approaching their prey and don’t just copy their victims’ movements.

To this day, scientists believed that only mammals, fish and birds used predictive hunting techniques, not insects. Also, they believed that dragonflies just fly blindly after their prey (bees and flies) and mimic all their steering movements until they are able to catch up with them.